Pro Bass Angler BANNED for life.

POSTON WIDEHEAD · November 26, 2013, 08:20:12 PM

This happened on my home lake which is 6 miles from my house/mill.
Very sad someone would stoop this low.

http://www.wired2fish.com/cheater-caught-at-bfl-on-wylie-over-weekend/

WmFritz · November 26, 2013, 09:10:09 PM

Glad that guy was caught. Gotta wonder how many times he's done this and cheated people out of money.

I read all the comments after the article and agreed with the post that said the cheater should have been arrested for fraud.

POSTON WIDEHEAD · November 26, 2013, 09:24:17 PM

I AGREE!

gfadvm · November 26, 2013, 09:35:03 PM

Attempting to "fix" the outcome of a sporting event is a felony in most states. He should get jail time to reflect on his ways!

coxy · November 27, 2013, 11:08:52 AM

HA HA HA put him in jail he was going to steal other peoples money >:( >:( >:(

Chuck White · November 28, 2013, 07:50:08 AM

Don't need competitors like that! ;)

drobertson · November 28, 2013, 08:36:31 AM

Very sad, hard to believe folks stoop so low, david

justallan1 · November 28, 2013, 08:42:09 AM

What gets me the most is the message it sends to the kids.
I used to play paintball, ALOT, and there were grown adults who felt the need to rob others of prizes and the feeling of victory to make themselves look better and keep their sponsors. It went to the extent of having videos and multiple practice sessions on how to cheat.
Unfortunately, it seems that in some sports it has become the norm, just to keep up.
Whether it's for the money or self pride, it's just plain wrong.

Allan

ron barnes · December 06, 2013, 08:36:01 AM

Glad the fool was caught.

JJ · December 06, 2013, 03:48:49 PM

This same thing happened in local ice fishing tournament I was in on Pushaw lake in Bangor about 20 years ago.
At weigh in, a pickerel which was 2" shorter than the leading fish, weighed more. The official started poking the belly, and it coughed up 2 lead wheel balancing weights. :

He asked the contender what it was, and he said 'must have be something he ate' then booked it out of there.

Prize was only few hundred $. Why cheat?

JJ

doctorb · December 06, 2013, 06:13:14 PM

Also witnessed this behavior before. As a sometime tournament angler, I always worry when a suspicious fish comes to the weigh-in. Often, in buddy tournaments (you fish together with your "buddy" and combine your weight totals on your limit of fish), a fish comes to the scales with completely different color or a frayed tail (kept in live trap). Unless somebody sees it happen ( the cheating), it's going to continue to occur. It's more than the $, believe it or not, it's also braggin' rights.

ksks · December 06, 2013, 06:22:10 PM

So how much do these guys make a year? Is there a lot of money riding on the weigh in?

doctorb · December 06, 2013, 07:05:23 PM

Many FLW pro tournaments pay out $100K. The money is very large if you finish first. They then have much smaller payouts over a fairly large number of anglers - like 20 - to help defray their expenses, which include entry fees. I view it like pro golf. The guy who comes in first gets a huge check. But from second or third place down the prize money drops off pretty quickly.

Most of the big name anglers make their "for sure" income on sponsorship deals. How do you get a sponsor......win tournaments.

POSTON WIDEHEAD · December 06, 2013, 07:06:46 PM

Quote from: ksks on December 06, 2013, 06:22:10 PM
So how much do these guys make a year? Is there a lot of money riding on the weigh in?

These guys fish a lot of different trails. Wal-mart has a trail and there are others. They accumulate points based on total weight in hopes of having enough weight to qualify for the fish off at the end of the year.
Top cash prizes are given away as well as new trucks and boats in some.

The main they they are trying to win is sponsorship.....there, you can become RICH!

Some of the cheaters will come in and pre fish a tournament and if they catch a BIG bass, they will put a barrel in the water and hold the bass until the tournament. Its sad.

ksks · December 06, 2013, 07:36:09 PM

haha. Maybe I should have practiced more when I was a kid!

JJ · December 07, 2013, 01:01:36 PM

Every year, there is big ice fishing tournament on Sebago (ice permitting), with top prize being boat motor trailer package ($15,000). If a state record togue is landed, it is $100,000 prize.

http://www.icefishingderby.com/sebago-derby/

There is requirement that the top prize winners must pass lie detector test before collecting prize, as fish must be landed during the tournament on Sebago lake.

Maybe lie detectors should be required for all big money tournaments.

JJ

JJ · September 18, 2014, 11:25:06 AM

30 days in jail for cheats

http://www.al.com/news/huntsville/index.ssf/2014/09/2_marshall_county_men_convicte.html

WmFritz · September 18, 2014, 11:27:56 PM

Claybraker · September 19, 2014, 11:16:41 AM

There's no honor among thieves.

"There was a price of $250 that was discussed," officer Hutto said. "They were to take bass, and once they won the tournament, they would give the anglers $250. They ended up winning the tournament, but it only paid $305 for the winning team.
"Then they said, 'We're only going to give you $105.' The bass club found out because the two anglers, Dustin and Sarah, were upset they didn't get the money agreed to. "

http://www.gon.com/article.php?id=3839&cid=158

ely · September 19, 2014, 05:31:28 PM

I bowfish a lot, one night on my home lake I seen a small fish trap which are common for the trotliners to catch perch in... but this particular one had a limit of nice bass inside it. I realized someone had put them there for the tournament the next day. we dumped the bass and put two or three rather large carp inside the trap... never knew the outcome but we laughed and laughed about that.

POSTON WIDEHEAD · September 19, 2014, 05:40:18 PM

Quote from: ely on September 19, 2014, 05:31:28 PM
I bowfish a lot, one night on my home lake I seen a small fish trap which are common for the trotliners to catch perch in... but this particular one had a limit of nice bass inside it. I realized someone had put them there for the tournament the next day. we dumped the bass and put two or three rather large carp inside the trap... never knew the outcome but we laughed and laughed about that.

I like that Ely.....I'd give $300.00 to see the look on their face. :D :D :D

beenthere · September 19, 2014, 06:29:16 PM

Quotewe dumped the bass and put two or three rather large carp inside the trap.

:D :D :D

Bricklayer51 · September 20, 2014, 08:50:48 AM

There is a tournament on hubbard lake the past few days. There must be a million dollars worth of boats go by in the morning.

sandhills · September 20, 2014, 03:18:14 PM

Ely, I couldn't have helped myself, I'd of hid in the bushes just to watch their reaction! But of coarse then my laughter would have got me caught :D. My wife and I love to fish and that's just ridiculous. We have a number of friends with kids that are close to my kid's ages and get to have them over from time to time while the parents are gone, we just go fishing with them, they're happy catching a bunch of 4" bluegill ;D (they do get released btw)! My wife did set a new record down on the river the other night though, neither of us knew it was possible to catch a 2 1/2" catfish with a hook :D, I wished I'd had the camera!